Chapter 198: Sovereign Aperture
Inside the hidden Eastern Sea blessed land, the formations covering heaven and earth continued to hum.
The terrain here had already been changed beyond recognition. Mountains had been cut apart, rivers had been redirected, and the earth was covered in formation markings. Layers of defensive arrangements sealed space, blocked investigation, and prevented any outside teleportation from entering without Fang Ming's permission. This was not a place made for comfort. It was a place made for one purpose.
To survive the transformation.
Fang Ming sat at the center of the formations. Sovereign Immortal Fetus Gu had already been used.
His soul left his original body.
The sensation was strange. It was not like ordinary soul movement, nor was it like entering a puppet or controlling a clone. Sovereign Immortal Fetus Gu rebuilt the foundation of existence itself. His soul entered the new body, and in that instant, flesh, blood, aperture, dao marks, and fate seemed to separate from the old path and join a new one.
When Fang Ming opened his eyes again, the world looked the same, yet completely different.
His vision was clearer. His breathing was smoother. His body felt light, but not weak. There was a strange harmony in it, as if every part had been created without flaw. Fang Ming raised his hand and looked at his palm. The skin, bones, muscles, and blood were all new.
Beside him, his original body still sat quietly.
That body did not collapse. It did not decay. It was still alive, but Fang Ming's main soul was no longer inside. Its eyes were closed, its breathing was faint, and its aura had become strangely empty. This original body had followed him through countless fights and arrangements, and more importantly, it still contained 2 immortal apertures.
One was his strength path immortal aperture.
The other was his enslavement path immortal aperture.
Fang Ming looked at it for a moment, then turned his attention inward.
The sovereign immortal aperture appeared before his senses.
Even Fang Ming, who had already prepared himself mentally, fell silent.
The immortal aperture was vast beyond the common logic of rank 6 cultivation. It was not a simple blessed land. It had 10 layers, each one immense. Each layer had over 33,500 km² of space. The 10 layers together meant more than 335,000 km². The time flow was also terrifying: 60 days passed inside the sovereign immortal aperture for every 1 day in the outside world.
Fang Ming had seen large blessed lands before. His own 10 extreme strength path aperture had already been vast, with an area surpassing 10,000 km². To ordinary mortals, that was already a world. But this was not the same concept at all. This was not merely a large blessed land. It was a world built inside a Gu Immortal.
Fang Ming continued inspecting and soon discovered another shocking point.
The sovereign immortal aperture had been born with dao marks of nearly every path. Each path had around 100 dao marks from the moment the aperture was created. This was before counting the strength path and enslavement path dao marks that he would absorb from his original apertures.
Individually, 100 dao marks for each path was not a dense foundation. These dao marks were spread through different parts of the sovereign immortal aperture, and no single path could be said to have formed a powerful concentrated advantage yet. But when all paths were added together, the total was enormous. This alone already surpassed the dao mark foundation of many ordinary rank 6 Gu Immortals.
Its immortal essence production was also astonishing.
Even with most of the aperture still empty and undeveloped, and with the 9 heavens containing no real investment, the sovereign immortal aperture could already generate around 18 immortal essence beads per outside-world day.
This was far beyond ordinary blessed lands. Hu Immortal blessed land produced roughly 1 immortal essence bead every 5 days. Fang Ming's former 10 extreme physique aperture had been carefully managed, yet it only produced around 3 beads per day. But the sovereign immortal aperture produced 18 beads per day while still mostly empty.
Once it was properly developed, this number would only become more terrifying.
Even his Flowing Essence Gu changed in value after entering the sovereign immortal aperture. Previously, each Flowing Essence Gu variant produced around 3 immortal essence beads per outside-world day. But because of the sovereign immortal aperture's time flow and environment, each variant could now effectively produce around 4 immortal essence beads per outside-world day.
Fang Ming had 10 Flowing Essence Gu variants. Together, they would now produce around 1,200 immortal essence beads per outside-world month instead of the previous 900.
These beads were still not immortal essence stones, so they could not directly buy goods in treasure yellow heaven. But to Fang Ming, they were almost the same as immortal essence stones because the copy system accepted immortal essence.
The first layer of the sovereign immortal aperture was divided into 5 great regions, their boundaries clear and natural. The central region was fertile and varied, suitable for countless forms of development. The southern region was filled with mountains, fog, and uneven terrain, much like Southern Border. The northern region stretched into vast grasslands swept by strong winds. The eastern region was a sea filled with countless islands. The western region was dry and hot, like a desert.
Above this first layer were 9 more layers.
They were empty for now, but each had its own color and atmosphere, corresponding faintly to the immemorial 9 heavens. Red, orange, yellow, green, azure, blue, purple, white, and black filled the upper layers in turn. The structure was not random. 5 regions below, 9 heavens above. Fang Ming finally understood with his own senses why Shadow Sect had planned for so long.
Rank 9 Sovereign Immortal Fetus Gu was worthy of its name.
But admiration was only a passing thought. Fang Ming did not have the time to stand there and marvel. His original body still had 2 immortal apertures, and those apertures contained his real foundation.
He began with the strength path immortal aperture.
Under his control, the aperture was drawn from the original body and absorbed into the sovereign immortal aperture. Fang Ming did not let it merge randomly. He chose the southern region of the first layer and placed it there.
The strength path aperture descended into the mountainous region like a complete land being inserted into a larger world. The process caused tremors, but the sovereign immortal aperture accepted it naturally. There was no resistance, no rejection, and no dao mark conflict. The old land settled into the Southern Border region and became part of the greater world.
After the strength path aperture stabilized, Fang Ming absorbed the enslavement path immortal aperture as well.
He also placed it in the southern region.
The 2 former apertures merged into the sovereign immortal aperture, becoming part of the southern terrain. Their dao marks entered Fang Ming's new foundation. Strength path dao marks and enslavement path dao marks flowed into him like rivers returning to the sea.
Fang Ming's aura changed immediately.
Before this, the sovereign immortal body had been newly formed. No matter how extraordinary its foundation was, Fang Ming himself had only just entered it. But after absorbing his 2 apertures, he instantly regained his accumulated dao marks. Strength path returned. Enslavement path returned. His previous combat foundation came back in full.
No, it was more than that.
In his original body, dao marks of different paths still interfered with one another. Even if Fang Ming had ways to reduce the problem, the conflict existed. But now, inside the sovereign immortal aperture, there was no such rejection. Strength path and enslavement path existed together smoothly. His old foundation had not merely returned. It had become more useful than before.
Fang Ming inspected the absorbed lands.
Everything was still running.
The mountains, rivers, resource points, formations, towns, villages, mortal settlements, Gu Master clans, eagle-raising grounds, and production areas were preserved. The land had changed location, but the internal systems had not collapsed. This was one of the terrifying qualities of the sovereign immortal aperture. It could annex and contain without tearing apart the old foundation.
The people living inside did not all react the same way.
Those who had previously lived near the borders of Fang Ming's 10 extreme strength immortal aperture discovered the change first. In the past, there had been invisible limits to their world. Some areas could not be passed, some directions ended, and certain border regions were known among local Gu Masters as the edge of heaven and earth.
Now those borders were gone.
Mountains that once marked the end of the world now opened toward unfamiliar wilderness. Roads that once stopped suddenly could continue. The land they knew remained, but the surroundings had expanded into a much greater heaven and earth.
Those living near the center did not notice the missing borders quickly. Fang Ming's 10 extreme strength immortal aperture had been over 10,000 km². To ordinary mortals, that was already a vast world. Many had lived their entire lives without ever approaching the edges, and some did not even know their world had borders at all.
But they noticed something else.
The sky had changed.
Fang Ming's previous aperture had no true night. There had been no sun and no moon. The world had always remained in daylight, and the mortals living there had long accepted that as natural.
Now, when they raised their heads, they saw a sun.
Light shifted across the land. Daytime was no longer fixed and unchanging. Shadows moved. The sky carried a rhythm it had never possessed before.
Even though ordinary mortals could not perceive the 9 heavens above the sovereign aperture, the change in the sky alone was clear proof that something had happened to their world. For mortals and low-rank Gu Masters, this was like heaven itself changing shape above their heads.
Panic began appearing in some places.
Fang Ming immediately sent orders to the Eagle Sect Gu Masters stationed inside. They were to stabilize the population, calm the Gu Masters and mortals, prevent rumors from spreading wildly, and make sure production continued. They did not need to explain the truth. They only needed to make the people accept that this was Fang Ming's immortal method and that their world had been elevated.
After settling this, Fang Ming moved his attention to Luo Po Valley and Dang Hun Mountain.
Both were inside the sovereign immortal aperture now.
Luo Po Valley's soul path aura remained deep and profound. Dang Hun Mountain still gave off its unique power. But the terrain around both locations looked damaged and altered. The surrounding land had been cut apart, rearranged, and distorted. Some mountains nearby had been flattened, while new artificial formations covered the area.
This damage was not caused by absorption into the sovereign immortal aperture.
Fang Ming had done it himself before using Sovereign Immortal Fetus Gu.
The reason was Fixed Immortal Travel.
Fang Ming did not know who would hold Fixed Immortal Travel after Yi Tian Mountain's chaos. It could be Fang Yuan. It could be Ying Wu Xie. It could even pass through another unexpected hand. Luo Po Valley and Dang Hun Mountain were too valuable, and their original appearances were too famous. If the surrounding terrain remained recognizable, someone with Fixed Immortal Travel might use remembered scenery to teleport inside at the worst possible moment.
So Fang Ming changed the terrain first.
It did not matter if the surroundings looked ruined for now. Pretty scenery had no value compared to preventing an intruder from appearing beside his most important resources during this sensitive period.
Then Fang Ming looked toward the 9 heavens.
Wisdom Gu was flying there.
The rank 9 wisdom path Immortal Gu moved freely, wandering through the upper layers as if it had no owner. Fang Ming watched it for a while without interfering.
Wisdom Gu was wild.
He had methods to use it, but using and controlling were 2 different things. Refining Wisdom Gu was not realistic for him at this stage. Even Giant Sun Immortal Venerable had possessed Wisdom Gu for thousands of years, yet he had never refined it. He could only use it.
Fang Ming had no expectation of surpassing that before becoming a venerable.
For now, Wisdom Gu could fly wherever it wanted. As long as it did not cause massive destruction inside the sovereign immortal aperture, Fang Ming was satisfied.
After finishing these inspections, Fang Ming returned his attention to his original body.
That body no longer had immortal apertures. This also meant it no longer had to face immortal tribulations. But it was still alive, and a living body without a soul required care. Fang Ming did not plan to discard it.
He brought the original body into the sovereign immortal aperture and placed it inside a nurturing and sealing formation. The formation maintained vitality, protected the body, and isolated it from outside interference.
This body still had future value.
If Fang Ming later obtained Spectral Soul's split soul methods, or used Wisdom Gu to research something similar, he might be able to place a split soul inside this body. If he refined another Second Aperture Gu, the original body might cultivate again. That was only a future possibility, but Fang Ming had always valued useful possibilities.
Once the original body was sealed, Fang Ming activated Heavenly Clone Eye again.
His vision shifted.
The hidden clone inside Hei Lou Lan's heavy metal processing formation still existed. Through it, Fang Ming looked toward the aftermath of Yi Tian Mountain.
The battlefield had changed greatly during his transformation.
He saw Hei Lou Lan and Tai Bai Yun Sheng escaping with Fang Yuan's immortal zombie body.
At first glance, this looked normal.
Then Fang Ming's gaze sharpened.
Something was wrong.
The aura, behavior, and situation did not match what Fang Ming expected. The body was Fang Yuan's immortal zombie body, but the one using it did not feel like Fang Yuan. Fang Ming watched for a while, then quickly reached a conclusion.
The real Fang Yuan had likely switched bodies with Ying Wu Xie.
The one escaping with Hei Lou Lan and Tai Bai Yun Sheng was probably Ying Wu Xie using Fang Yuan's zombie body.
Fang Ming became curious about what had happened to the real Fang Yuan after Star Constellation's dream realm exploded. Had he been trapped? Had he escaped? Had another arrangement activated?
Curiosity was curiosity. Fang Ming did not chase the answer immediately.
He had already taken Sovereign Immortal Fetus Gu, Wisdom Gu, Dang Hun Mountain, Luo Po Valley, and Fang Yuan's stored resources. Yi Tian Mountain's outcome could continue unfolding for now. His current priority was to turn the chaos outside into more real gains.
Before teleporting back, Fang Ming activated Familiar Face.
His new appearance changed again, returning to the face Eagle Sect Gu Immortals knew. For now, he had no intention of creating unnecessary questions during the operation.
Purple smoke rose around him.
He teleported back to Eastern Sea.
When Fang Ming appeared again, the Eagle Sect Gu Immortals were still robbing Zombie Alliance resource points. Large amounts of materials had already been gathered, and the formations around another resource area were being dismantled.
Bian Si Xuan turned first and lowered her head. "Supreme elder."
The others followed.
Fang Ming nodded calmly and looked toward the next Zombie Alliance resource point.
"Continue," Fang Ming said. "Before the outside world reacts, take everything we can move."
Eagle Sect moved again.
Yi Tian Mountain had fallen into chaos. Zombie Alliance was being sacrificed. Shadow Sect, Heavenly Court, Southern Border, Fang Yuan, and Ying Wu Xie were all tangled in the storm.
While they burned, Fang Ming robbed the ashes.